The Fabric of the Cosmos

Lately I haven't had the time to sit down and write a proper review so I thought I'd post a few quick thoughts on the books I haven't had the chance to review as well as link to my book list on my listography page. But anyway...onward!


( Thoughts and Feelings, Feelings and Thoughts )

On a different note and for those of you who enjoy fanzines as much as I do, a recommendation: The Adventure of the Blue Police Call Box by MJ, a BBC Sherlock/Doctor Who crossover. Slash.

I was gifted the above 'zine as an early birthday present and I loved it. It read like a Doctor Who episode and was just a lot of fun from beginning to end. In fact, I'll likely sit down with a cup of tea and read it again this weekend. Though that might be a bad thing...I really want to buy more 'zines. >.<

1. The Hunger Games by S. Collins
2. The Hitch Hiker/The Lost Temple by Stevie Woods
3. Alliance in the Blood by Ariel Tachna
4. Wes and Toren by J.M. Colail
5. The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
6. SWAT Team One and the Social Worker (#1) by Dixie Lynn Dwyer
7. SWAT Team Two and Miss Robin Hood (#2) by Dixie Lynn Dwyer
8. Task Force Three and the Irish Jewel (#3) by Dixie Lynn Dwyer
9. Angel Bound (#1) by Jana Downs
10. Angelic Ties (#2) by Jana Downs
11. Angel Kin (#3) by Jana Downs
12. Night Shift (Jill Kismet #1) by Lilith Saintcrow
13. Dante Valentine: Working For The Devil (#1) by Lilith Saintcrow

Up Next:
None But You (Frederick Wentworth, Captain Book 1) by Susan Kaye

I haven't really had time to sit down and do a proper review for all of these books but wanted to make sure to add them to my list lest I forget about them. So, books I've read so far:

1. The Hunger Games by S. Collins 
2. The Hitch Hiker/The Lost Temple by Stevie Woods
3. Alliance in the Blood by Ariel Tachna
4. Wes and Toren by J.M. Colail 
5. The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett 

Currently Reading: Zero to the Bone by Jane Seville

I just received Zero to the Bone today from my BooksFree account and am really looking forward to cracking it open. It's been recommended to me several times by several different people. It'll be interesting to see if it lives up to the hype. 

On a completely unrelated note, I stumbled upon a Sixteen Candles fic I started years ago between Farmer Ted and Jake Ryan based years in the future (they're both in their 30s) and am wondering why I never finished it. I had the foundation for a really wonderful story and now am thinking heavily about finishing it. It'll give me an excuse to watch Sixteen Candles again, in any case. :)

I've been sitting on this review for a while now because I've been conflicted about what to say about this book. On the one hand, I really enjoyed what it had to offer and the premise for the entire series  was really intriguing. On the other hand, I really felt like the author missed the chance to create something spectacular with the plot and the characters. But first, a blurb for those of you who haven't read this book:

Can a desperate wizard and a bitter, disillusioned vampire find a way to build the partnership that could save their world?

In a world rocked by magical war, vampires are seen by many as less than human, as the stereotypical creatures of the night who prey on others. But as the war intensifies, the wizards know they need an advantage to turn the tide in their favor: the strength and edge the vampires can give them in the battle against the dark wizards who seek to destroy life as they know it.

In a dangerous move and show of good will, the wizards ask the leader of the vampires to meet with them, so that they might plead their cause. One desperate man, Alain Magnier, and one bitter, disillusioned vampire, Orlando St. Clair, meet in Paris, and the fate of the world hangs in the balance of their decision: Will the vampires join the cause and form a partnership with the wizards to win the war?
--Alliance in Blood by Ariel Tachna, Book 1 the Partnership in Blood series, Dreamspinner Press

It sounds full of potential, right? I thought so. I also thought it sounded right up my alley: vampires and light wizards forging an alliance to fight back against the dark wizards they're currently in a war with? That sounds awesome!

And it was. Kind of. A little bit. 

All right, it wasn't awesome. It was more in the 'this is good' category of reading rather than awesome, but in all fairness to the author (who does have a knack for writing a good story), it was the first book in a series and sometimes that can be the weakest one. Especially with the amount of set-up involved in establishing the who, what, where, when, and why of a series. Which the author did and didn't do here.

For example: we know right from the start of this book that light and dark wizards are waging war against each other; we know that in desperation the light wizards are trying to forge an alliance with the vampires to try to turn the tide in the war; we know that Alain, one of the main characters and a light wizard, is willing to do whatever it takes to make it work. What we don't know and never learn is why they're having the war in the first place!

And that drove me absolutely crazy. I wanted to know why the dark and light wizards were fighting, even if it was for a generic reason like the dark wizards wanted more power and control over Paris (or the world). I wanted to know why this alliance was going to be so important but we never really found out because its importance was kind of swept under the rug so the main characters could fall in love or lust or whatever it was they were doing. 

Speaking of the main characters: Alain and Orlando (the vampire) were both an equal mix of good character potential and wasted character potential. A few quick examples of this:

Alain, we learn, lost his wife and young son in one of the first attacks of the war. This, far from hardening his heart, has turned him into a calm and competent wizard who will do whatever it takes to win. But, for whatever reason, the loss was (again) swept under the rug and regulated to being a small and short aside to Alain's character, and I have to ask...why? That's the kind of stuff that defines a character and is not tossed aside like it's just ancient history (it's not). 

Orlando, too, had the same issue: we learn relatively quickly in the story that the vampire who changed Orlando was a brutal and sadistic maker, who physically and emotionally tormented Orlando for his own sick pleasure. But, apparently, Orlando's distrust of others (which could have been a very lovely and angst-ridden plot point between the two characters) just wasn't what I thought it would be. Instead of him being a tough nut to crack, he was easily hurt (I could buy that, I guess) and a little bit -- whiny isn't the right word but I have no other one to give you in context to him. He was just too soft a character for me in relation to his past and while that's not a failing, it still felt like wasted potential. 

All of that said, I don't want it to seem like I didn't enjoy the book. I did quite a bit once I dropped my expectations (which I admit I should have done right from the start) and just let it be what it was: a straightforward wizard meets vampire and they have a magical bond (in blood) together. Which, really, could be the plot of any number of fan fictions out there these days but who says that's a bad things?

Length: 236 pages.
*My Rating: B-
Book Challenge 2012: #3
Next Book: Wes and Toren by J.M.C. 

*I've changed my rating system so I can have more flexibility when rating because this one was so darn hard to "grade" and I thought it would be more straightforward if I just labeled it this way. 

I want to preface this review by saying that I don't usually review things outside of epic_recs. I tried for a bit at a now-defunct community run by jane_elliot but, well, none of us seemed to be able to get our act together enough to keep things going and it went the way of the wind. Also, if it's not fan fic related, I tend to be bollocks at reviewing things (and some, I'm sure, could argue that I'm bollocks at that, too). Luckily enough for me, both of these novels happen to fall into an interesting category: they both used to be fic. 

Or, to put a finer point on it, they used to be part of a Stargate SG-1 series I actually recced and reviewed on epic_recs before it was taken offline. I no longer have that review, unfortunately, so it won't do me any good now, but the gist of what I said was that I really, really liked the entire series from beginning to end. It was a little bit Indiana Jones, a little bit SG-1, and a whole lot of action/adventure meets romance between Jack and Daniel. 

That was when it was a fan fiction, though. Now that it's an original work, I have a slightly different opinion of the first two novels in this series. But first, for those of you who haven't read either one of the stories incarnations, a blurb:

Ian Grayson's priority is to protect the artifact which could be the answer to all his questions, but he has already been chased across Belize and Mexico by those who would take it from him by any means necessary and he is desperate to find a way to escape from them and get home to Chicago. When he persuades a trucker to give him a ride he has no idea that his life was about to take a whole new direction. When Mackenzie Wallace picks up an unlikely hitch-hiker he soon discovers one should never go by first appearances, Ian Grayson was certainly not what he expected from a Doctor of Archaeology.
--The Hitch Hiker, Book 1 in The Tomcat Line Series,  MLR Press

( Could be considered spoilery, I guess )

So I'm not sure if anyone else on my flist does this but for the past few years I've tried to do one of those reading challenges. You know the ones, where you try to read X amount of books before the end of the year? Well this year I'm doing a new one - I know I'm late starting this year - but with a more conservation number of books to read: 100.

It seemed like a good round number and one that I could easily accomplish. The only stipulation I made with myself was that I wouldn't include audiobooks this year and that I would actually read by recommendation (which are always welcome) rather than by just grabbing up the things in my to-read pile.

Anyhow I've already my first book for this years book list:
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.


( Spoilers Ahoy! )

My next read: Haven't decided yet.